A South Side man died after he was shot by police while armed with a semi-automatic pistol in the Washington Park neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

Officers responded to a call of shots fired around 2:15 p.m. in the 6100 block of South King Drive and encountered Aquoness Cathery, 24, holding a handgun, according to Chicago Deputy Police Chief Kevin Ryan.

"At one point the officers fired and shot the offender, who was then taken into custody," Ryan said at the scene.

The was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died hours later, at 1:26 a.m. Thursday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Police said they recovered a gun but do not believe Cathery fired it at officers.

Cathery lived in the 7200 block of South Eberhart Avenue, about a mile and a half south of where he was shot.

Witnesses said the shooting occurred after a police pursuit ended with an Audi crashing at 63rd Street and Vernon Avenue. Police would not comment.

The officers were wearing body cameras, and the video will be reviewed as part of the investigation. The officers have been placed on a 30-day administrative leave, Ryan said.

A Chicago police officer discharged their weapon and one person was hit in the 6100 block of South King Drive on Nov 29, 2017. The shooting happened during an "armed encounter'' with the person who was shot, according to Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The person shot was taken to Stroger Hospital and later died.

(Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

More than a dozen police vehicles surrounded the scene as officers swarmed the back of an apartment building near the 6100 block of South Calumet Avenue after the shooting.

A few residents peered from the rear balconies of their homes toward uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives huddled on the back lawn.

Crime scene tape cordoned off a building and two nearby alleys. A small group of neighbors stared down the alley on the south side of the building.